Despite Doomed Predictions, Facebook Is Not Dying Out – It Just Has Google-Like Aspirations

While many are being led to believe that the most popular social media site on the planet is being shown the door – a la Myspace – Facebook is actually adopting a business plan similar to web giant, Google.

Recent acquisitions of The Oculus Rift, What’s App, and even Instagram where not all intended bolster the actual site itself. In fact, the only changes to Facebook last year came in the form of a lackluster home screen app (Home), and Graph Search – both of which have not been highly received by users.

So, what’s Mark Zuckerberg’s ingenious idea? The answer: apps.

Much like Google, Facebook is becoming an incubator for new ideas that exist outside of the social network, allowing for the creation of mini-startups within the confines of a billion dollar company. While Google found a way to tie in their new creations (Maps, Sky, Drive) into the search engine homepage, Facebook intends to branch out.

This new initiative is known as Creative Labs – an idea that Zuckerberg has been toying with since last year that will bring a number of sleek, sophisticated social apps specifically designed for mobile devices.

By releasing apps that may not even have the name “Facebook” on them, or even requiring users to have an account for usage, recent head-scratching acquisitions (like the Oculus Rift) begin to make sense. So no, you most likely won’t be browsing your social news feed with the VR headset.

Gearing up for a generation beyond the computer.

Since the bulk of Facebook’s traffic arrives via mobile devices these days, this new multi-app strategy calls for a smoother, more intuitive infrastructure – like Paper, a recently released Facebook browser that, despite a small user-base, is a sleek and mobile-friendly way to browse the site using simple gestures in a clutter-free environment.

Facebook's new app Paper.

By developing these in-house apps, it gives designers at Facebook the freedom to take risks with new ideas and innovations. Along with the acquisition of other successful apps that came without some sort of a rebranding (Instagram), it allows them to keep their core user base with the wealth and resources of being backed by Facebook.

So it should come to no surprise (or alarm) when we see the latest and greatest apps being bought out by Facebook in the coming years. Whether or not they will benefit the “big blue” social giant no longer matters, for these days, Zuckerberg and Facebook are all about diversification, not necessarily integration.